Danvers Likely To Miss Season

Lambourn trainer Jonathan Portman is losing the battle to get his stable star Mrs Danvers (GB) (Hellvelyn GB}) back to the track this season. The 3-year-old hasn't run since her seasonal debut in France in the G3 Prix Sigy in April, a race in which she met defeat for the first time in six runs. “She's been intermittently lame behind ever since April when she ran in France. We're going to rest her probably for the remainder of the season but there is a faint possibility she could be back in the autumn,” Portman told The Racing Post. Portman is also still none the wiser about what exactly is causing Mrs Danvers to be lame and he said, “Two separate veterinary practices have tried to diagnose the problem, but we haven't got to the bottom of it. We assume she has some nerve damage in her back and will keep on with the diagnosis work to give her every chance.”

Portman is still hopeful of getting her back into competitive action even if he has to wait until next year. When she won the G3 Cornwallis S. at Newmarket last October Saturday's impressive sprint winner Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was two lengths behind in third and given the strength of her form it is no surprise her trainer is lamenting her absence from the course at the moment. “We miss her as the stable is short of talent at the moment, but we'll bring her back into training to give her a full opportunity to race as a four-year-old but failing that I'm sure her owner-breeder will want to breed from her.”